By Rachel King
Opelika Observer

The nationally recognized organization “Spirt of Democracy,” which focuses on educating people about politics, is now doing the same at Opelika High School with the help of rising senior, Jamie Lowe.
Lowe said that there is a need for today’s generation to be more invested in both their national and local governments.
“If political awareness is going to take root in our country, and people are going to become engaged in their government, then it has to start early, with my generation and those younger than me,” Lowe said.
SOD hosts a variety of community projects including book clubs where members are able to read a political work and discuss its impacts, to seminars that stress the importance of voting and other civic engagements.
Civic Saturdays are held the first weekend of each month and focus on many issues that national and local government faces.
Currently at OHS there are more than fifty members with the group focused on becoming a hub for all other political organizations in the community.
Part of the group’s focus is K-12 outreach. According to Lowe getting teachers involved and making current curriculum more civic oriented is the best way to encourage civic engagement.
“We’ve all heard the saying, there’s two things you don’t talk about with people, politics and religion, but I disagree,” Lowe said. “These are two of the most relevant things in our country moving forward. Politics is the life blood of any healthy country, and for that to continue citizens must be involved and we have got to find a platform to talk about the issues and that’s what I hope SOD will become.”
There will be a Civic Saturday July 1 from 9:45-11:30 a.m. at Hubert and Grace Harris Senior Center 325 Perry Street in Auburn. Admission is free and open to the public.